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FITZROY  CARRINGTON,  Editor 


THE   MEN  OF   1830 


BY 


ROBERT  J.  WICKENDEN 

Author  ol  "Chtrles  Jtcque,"  "Jean-Francois  Millet,"  "  Le  Pere  Corot, 
"Charles-Francois  Daubigny,"  etc.,  etc. 


PUBLISHED  FOR 

MUSEUM  OF  FINE  ARTS  BOSTON 

BY 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
4  Park  Street,  Boston  16  E.  40th  St.,  New  York 


THE  MEN   OF  1830 


BY 


ROBERT  J.   WICKENDEN 

Author  of  "Charles  Jacgue,"  "Jean-Francois  Millet, 

"Le  Pert  Corot"  "Charles-Francois  Daubigny" 

etc.,  etc. 


PUBLISHED   FOR 

MUSEUM  OF   FINE  ARTS   BOSTON 

BY   HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 
1914 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
MUSEUM  OF  FINE  ARTS,  BOSTON 

All  rights  reserved 


Art 


AJ 


BONINGTON.       RUE   DU    GROS    HORLOGE,    ROUEN 

Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  9y2  X  9%  inches 


THE  MEN  OF  1830 
BY  ROBERT  J.  WICKENDEN 

EW  sayings  of  the  witty  Mr.  Whistler  have 
been  more  quoted  or  questioned  than  his 
"Art  happens"  of  "The  Ten  o 'Clock," 
yet  no  delight  in  epigram  can  blind  us  to 
the  fact  that  art  has  usually  been  representative  of 
social  and  intellectual  conditions  existing  at  the  time 
of  its  appearance.  It  may  seem  to  come  and  go  like 
the  wind,  but  is  still  subject  to  laws,  less  known,  but 
as  sure  in  their  operation  as  those  which  govern  the 
return  of  the  seasons  through  the  rounding  years  of 
the  physical  world.  To  understand  the  character  of 
any  great  movement  or  manifestation  of  art,  we  must 
therefore  study  the  conditions  that  have  preceded  it. 

The  excellence  of  French  painting  and  engraving 
during  Ic  grand  siecle  under  Louis  XIV  was  achieved 
by  the  perfecting  of  what  already  existed  under 
Henri  IV  and  Louis  XIII,  and  such  high  skill  is  rarely 
long  sustained.  The  more  licentious  period  of  Louis 
XV  demanded  the  satisfaction  of  its  frivolous  whims, 
as  well  as  the  consecration  of  its  love  for  pompous  dis- 
play. Art,  for  the  most  part,  followed  society,  till  not 
even  the  good  intentions  of  Louis  XVI  could  save 
either  from  the  tragic  catastrophe  of  the  French 
Revolution. 


During  and  after  that  great  upheaval,  art  fol- 
lowed the  action  and  reaction  of  the  rapidly  changing 
forms  of  government.  Louis  David,  who,  as  a  member 
of  the  Convention,  voted  for  the  execution  of  Louis 
XVI,  and  was  an  admirer  of  Robespierre  and  Marat, 
inculcated  a  return  to  antique  severity ;  yet  when  Na- 
poleon took  up  the  reins  of  government,  David  sig- 
nified his  acceptance  of  the  self-made  emperor  by 
painting  him  on  horseback  as  a  cisalpine  conqueror, 
and  as  the  chief  figure  in  his  stately  coronation  at 
Notre  Dame. 

Baron  Gros  commemorated  Napoleon's  victories  on 
immense  canvases,  and  under  the  First  Empire  and 
the  Restoration,  if  we  except  the  delicate  portraits  and 
poetic  compositions  of  Pierre  Prud'hon,  the  Academy 
and  official  schools  seemed  to  become  more  narrow  and 
pedagogic  in  their  views.  In  the  atelier  under  the 
direction  of  Pierre  Guerin  were  a  number  of  young 
painters  of  ardent  temperament  who  rebelled  against 
the  restraints  of  a  somewhat  despotic  discipline. 
Among  them  was  Theodore  Gericault,  who  was  born 
in  Normandy  in  1791,  and  whose  early  surroundings 
and  tastes  had  developed  in  him  an  admiration  for  the 
military  types  then  so  much  in  evidence,  as  well  as  for 
man's  faithful  companion,  the  horse.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  painted  his  famous  Officer  of  Chasseurs 
of  the  Guard,  charging,  and  two  years  later  the 
Wounded  Cuirassier  leaving  the  Field,  and  again  in 
1816  his  masterpiece,  The  Raft  of  the  Medusa.  Though 
these  are  all  now  in  places  of  honor  at  the  Louvre,  they 
were  the  despair  of  Gericault 's  master,  Guerin,  and  of 
other  academic  authorities  at  the  time  they  were 
painted.  The  artist  decided  to  take  them  to  England 


BONINCTON.    TOUR  DU  GROS  HORLOCF.  (KVREUX) 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  i:i",  X  sl-  inches 


for  exhibition,  in  which  venture  he  was  successful. 
Gericault  was  also  interested  in  the  newly  discovered 
art  of  lithography,  and  made  many  drawings— in  all 
about  seventy-eight — on  stone,  most  of  which  por- 
trayed various  types  of  equestrian  life.  Some  of  these 
were  done  in  England,  and  a  number  of  others,  of 
earlier  date,  are  known  as  "the  French  set."  This 
new  method  of  making  prints,  directly  from  the  ar- 
tist's drawings,  in  crayon  gras  on  the  stone,  had  been 
invented  and  perfected  by  Senefelder  during  the  last 
years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Its  autographic  pre- 
cision and  rapid  method  of  printing  brought  it 
quickly  into  favor  with  artists,  as  well  as  with  the 
public,  who  demanded  an  art  that  could  find  its  way 
into  the  homes  of  the  people.  "With  the  Revolution, 
the  more  aristocratic  art  of  line-engraving  had  suf- 
fered an  irreparable  blow.  Lithography  and  a  re- 
vival of  the  etcher's  art  seemed  better  suited  to  the 
needs  of  the  new  era  of  democracy. 

Before  Gericault 's  open  revolt,  in  the  domain  of 
landscape,  Georges  Michel,  who  was  born  in  1763  and 
lived  till  1843,  had  turned  from  classic  and  heroic 
compositions  to  the  study  of  realities,  of  which  style 
Rembrandt,  Hobbema,  and  Ruysdael  had  furnished 
examples.  Michel's  theory  was  that  "a  landscapist 
who  could  not  find  all  he  needed  within  four  square 
leagues  did  not  know  his  business. ' ' 

The  exhibition  of  Constable's  works  at  Paris  in  1824 
was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  admiration  by  the 
younger  men,  and  the  masterly  studies  of  Richard 
Parkes  Bonington  were  equally  appreciated.  Boning- 
ton  was  an  Englishman,  born  at  Arnold,  near  Notting- 
ham, in  1801.  He  had  come  to  Paris  with  his  father  in 

s 


1815,  where  he  received  his  education  in  art.  Most  of 
his  short,  active  life  was  spent  in  France,  so  that  he  is 
often  placed  in  the  French  school.  He  died,  in  1828, 
during  a  visit  to  London.  Besides  his  paintings  of 
figures,  landscapes  and  coast-scenes,  Bonington  did 
some  masterly  lithographs,  including  the  Rue  du  Gros 
Horloge  a  Rouen  and  the  Tour  du  Gros  Horloge 
(Evreux).  These  were  done  for  Baron  Taylor's 
"Voyages  Pittoresques  et  Romantiques  dans  1'An- 
cienne  France,"  to  which  a  number  of  the  younger 
French  artists,  including  Isabey  and  Ciceri,  contrib- 
uted. Bonington 's  lithographs  show  great  strength 
of  composition  and  construction,  combined  with  a 
delicacy,  especially  in  the  treatment  of  architectural 
detail,  that  has  been  rarely  equaled. 

In  Guerin's  atelier  with  Gericault  was  Eugene 
Delacroix.  He  was  seven  years  younger  than  Geri- 
cault, having  been  born  in  1798,  but  he  quickly  fol- 
lowed in  the  steps  of  his  illustrious  comrade.  His 
Dante  and  Virgil  in  the  Infernal  Regions  was  shown 
in  the  Salon  of  1822,  and  from  that  time  till  his  death 
in  1863  he  remained  the  chief  of  the  Romantics. 
While  he  wras  justly  celebrated  for  the  brilliant  color- 
ing that  enhanced  his  work  as  a  painter,  Delacroix 
also  did  a  number  of  lithographs  and  a  few  etchings. 
His  illustrations  of  Goethe's  "Faust"  and  Shak- 
spere's  "Hamlet"  are  replete  with  dramatic  action, 
in  favor  of  which  we  must  overlook  certain  exaggera- 
tions of  drawing.  Goethe  approved  of  Delacroix's 
treatment  of  "Faust,"  but  among  his  prints  many 
prefer  the  large  lithographs  of  the  Tigre  Royal  and 
the  Lion  de  V Atlas,  which  are  truly  magnificent  ex- 
amples of  lithographic  art. 


u   ~ 


10 


In  opposition  to  the  views  of  Delacroix  stood  Jean- 
Auguste-Dominique  Ingres,  who  was  born  in  1780  and 
lived  till  1867.  Ingres  was  as  exact  in  his  treatment 
of  form  as  Delacroix  was  expressive.  Ingres 's  method 
of  drawing  was  better  applied  to  repose,  and  Dela- 
croix's to  the  suggestion  of  action.  Now  that  the 
smoke  of  the  battles  between  Classics  and  Romantics 
has  long  since  cleared  away,  we  are  better  able  to 
judge  these  men  on  their  merits,  and  to  see  how  both 
have  honored  and  benefited  the  art  of  their  country. 
As  far  as  we  know,  Ingres  did  but  one  etching,  the 
portrait  of  Gabriel  Cortois  de  Pressigny,  who  was  suc- 
cessively bishop  of  St.  Malo,  archbishop  of  Besancon 
and  afterward  French  ambassador  at  Home,  where 
Ingres  drew  the  portrait  in  1816.  This  portrait -etch- 
ing, executed  with  a  precise  regard  for  the  eminent 
model's  character,  is  worthy  of  Beraldi's  comment 
that  "Van  Dyck  would  not  have  disavowed  its  author- 
ship." • 

During  the  ten  years  preceding  1830,  art  felt  the 
effects  of  the  social  and  political  ferment,  which 
reached  its  climax  in  that  year,  when  Charles  X 
was  deposed  and  Louis  Philippe,  son  of  Philippe 
Egalite,  was  placed  on  the  throne.  The  Romantic 
painters  and  writers,  who  for  the  most  part  sym- 
pathized with  the  popular  party,  had  gathered  the 
strength  in  numbers  and  public  appreciation  neces- 
sary to  the  formation  of  the  "Romantic"  school,  as 
opposed  to  that  of  the  ' '  Classics, ' '  who  followed  more 
closely  the  traditions  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The 
line  of  demarcation,  never  very  precise,  has  become 
less  exact  with  the  advance  of  time.  The  group  that 
devoted  itself  specially  to  the  study  of  rustic  and 

it 


landscape  subjects,  known  later  as  the  Barbizon 
school,  were  counted  with  the  Romantics,  and  we 
have  come  to  include  men  of  both  camps,  as  well  as 
some  independents,  who  worked  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  among  "the  men  of  1830." 

The  new  ideal  among  both  writers  and  painters 
found  its  principal  source  of  inspiration  in  the  pic- 
turesque events  of  medieval  and  later  history  as  well 
as  in  the  actual  lives  and  surroundings  of  the  people, 
and  though  the  Napoleonic  wars  had  ended  in  wide- 
spread dissatisfaction  at  such  immense  waste  of  human 
life,  the  military  spirit  still  remained  active  and 
created  a  demand  for  such  paintings  and  prints  as 
those  of  Charlet  and  Raffet  and  Horace  Vernet. 

Nicolas-Toussaint  Charlet  was  born  in  1792,  the 
opening  year  of  the  Revolution,  and  he  lived  till  1845. 
As  a  young  man  he  had  served  under  Napoleon,  and 
knew  the  soldier's  life  in  its  tragic  and  comic  aspects. 
This  experience  furnished  subjects  for  his  brush,  but 
more  often  for  prints,  mostly  lithographic,  although 
he  did  a  few  etchings.  The  legends  accompany- 
ing Charlet 's  prints  are  often  as  interesting  and 
amusing  as  the  drawings.  His  principal  pupil,  who 
far  surpassed  him  as  an  artist,  was  Auguste  Raffet, 
born  in  1804.  Raffet  also  painted,  but  his  chief  claim 
to  fame  is  sustained  by  his  masterly  lithographs. 
Within  their  small  dimensions  he  was  able  to  suggest 
the  movements  of  great  masses  of  troops  in  the  clash 
and  din  of  battle.  One  of  the  finest  and  most  imagina- 
tive is  the  Revue  Nocturne,  where  Napoleon,  on  his 
white  charger,  is  seen  surrounded  by  galloping  ranks 
of  dragoons,  who  have  risen  under  the  pale,  misty 
moonlight  to  render  a  posthumous  homage  to  their 

12 


13 


GAVARNI.     "Lss  HOMMES  SONT  BETES!" 

From  "Masques  el  Visages" 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  8  X  6%  inches 


14 


chief.  Another  fine  print  that  recalls  Napoleon's  mag- 
netic power  over  his  men  is  Us  grognaient .  . .  etle  sui- 
vaient  ton  jours.  Wrapped  in  his  long  coat,  the  em- 
peror rides  ahead  with  two  officers,  while  the  ragged 
and  shoeless  "grognards"  follow  on  foot  through  a 
blinding  rain-storm.  Besides  these  reminiscences  of 
the  military  glory  of  the  First  Empire,  Raffet  treated 
subjects  drawn  from  the  campaigns  of  Africa  and 
Rome.  In  the  Combat  d'Oued-Alleg  we  see  thousands 
of  infantry  deployed  in  long  lines,  advancing  a  pas  de 
charge  toward  the  Arab  army  massed  on  the  plains 
beyond.  The  sense  of  reality  in  this  small  print  is  so 
intense  that  we  seem  to  hear  the  roar  of  trampling 
feet,  and  the  shouts  and  shots  of  the  advancing  host. 
Raffet  enjoyed  foreign  travel,  and  visited  the  Crimea 
and  southern  Russia  in  company  with  his  friend 
Prince  Demidoff.  He  died  at  Genoa  in  1860,  and  has 
been  honored  with  a  statue  placed  opposite  Meisso- 
nier's  in  the  court  of  the  Louvre. 

Horace  Vernet  was  born  at  Paris  in  1789  at  the 
Louvre,  where  his  father  occupied  a  studio  and  apart- 
ment. He  was  the  son  of  the  painter  Carle  Vernet 
and  the  grandson  of  Joseph  Vernet,  the  celebrated 
marine  painter  who  executed  the  series  of  the  ports  of 
France.  His  military  paintings  and  lithographs  met 
with  both  official  and  popular  favor.  Although  their 
technical  qualities  are  sometimes  mediocre,  they  are 
valuable  as  historical  records,  and  often  humorous  in 
character.  In  the  way  of  prints  he  did  some  twenty- 
seven  lithographed  portraits  of  contemporary  celeb- 
rities and  nearly  a  hundred  other  subjects.  Vernet 
died  in  1863. 

The  crayons  of  Daumier  and  Gavarni  were  prin- 
ts 


eipally  occupied  in  satirizing  the  social  and  political 
foibles  of  their  day.  Honore  Daumier  was  born  at 
Marseilles  in  1808,  and  in  accordance  with  his  am- 
bition to  become  a  painter  he  joined  Daubigny, 
Meissonier  and  Geoffroy-Dechaume  at  Paris  in  their 
community  of  interests  and  means.  What  Daumier 
has  left  in  the  way  of  paintings  reveals  an  exceptional 
strength  with  the  brush,  but  necessity  and  a  certain 
aptitude  carried  him  into  the  field  of  caricature, 
where  he  proved  himself  one  of  its  greatest  masters. 
His  oeuvre  includes  some  thirty-seven  hundred  draw- 
ings, principally  published  in  "Charivari,"  w^hich,  if 
not  all  equally  interesting,  are  stamped  with  a  power 
which  warranted  Baudelaire 's  opinion  that  ' '  Daumier 
was  not  only  one  of  the  most  important  men  in  cari- 
cature, but  also  of  modern  art."  In  his  later  life  he 
became  blind,  and  retired  to  Valmondois,  near  Auvers, 
where  he  died,  in  1879,  in  the  house  that  the  gentle  and 
generous  Corot  bought  for  him,  when  the  poverty  he 
so  little  merited  had  nearly  placed  him  in  the  street. 

' '  Gavarni, ' '  whose  real  name  was  Guillaume-Sulpice 
Chevallier,  was  a  native  of  Paris,  born  in  1804.  He 
drew  the  various  types  and  satirized  the  follies  of  his 
time  in  a  series  of  prints,  of  which  the  technical  per- 
fection is  all  the  more  astonishing  when  we  know  that 
he  rarely  worked  directly  from  models,  but,  like  Dau- 
mier, evolved  his  distinctly  delineated  characters 
with  their  perfection  of  detail  from  imagination  aided 
by  a  powerful  memory.  Gavarni  died  in  1866.  Henri 
Monnier  was  also  a  mid-century  master  of  caricature, 
creating  the  immortal  Joseph  Prudhomme,  an  incar- 
nation of  the  rich,  self-satisfied,  but  ignorant  bour- 
geoisie. 

16 


GAVARNI.    LE  LION  DEVENU  VIEUX 

From  "Masques  et  Visages" 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  8  X  6%  inches 


17 


ISABEY.    INTERIEUR  D'UN  PORT 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  12}4  X  9%  inches     ' 


18 


Alexandre-Gabriel  Decamps,  who  lived  from  1803 
to  1860,  commenced  his  career  with  a  few  caricatures 
and  satirical  pictures,  but  being  inflamed,  like  Lord 
Byron,  with  the  desire  of  helping  the  cause  of 
Greek  independence,  visited  the  nearer  East  and 
brought  back  studies  that  made  him  the  first  painter 
of  Oriental  subjects,  in  which  genre  so  many  others 
have  since  followed  him.  Later,  disappointed  at  the 
reception  accorded  to  his  masterly  drawings  and 
paintings  of  historical  and  biblical  subjects,  he  re- 
tired from  Paris,  and  for  a  time  settled  near 
Fontainebleau,  whence  he  used  to  visit  Millet  at 
Barbizon.  Decamps  also  painted  scenes  of  the  chase, 
dogs,  and  game-keepers,  and  met  his  death  by  the  run- 
ning away  of  a  vicious  mount  he  was  riding  at  an 
imperial  hunt  under  Napoleon  III  in  the  forest  of 
Fontainebleau.  Decamps 's  prints,  about  thirty-five  in 
number,  belong  to  his  earlier  period,  and  were  exe- 
cuted by  the  lithographic  method. 

Eugene  Isabey,  son  of  the  miniature-  and  portrait- 
painter  J.  B.  Isabey,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1804,  and 
lived  till  1886.  During  his  later  years  he  dealt  prin- 
cipally with  the  decorative  phases  of  mediaeval  and 
later  Renaissance  life ;  but  earlier  in  his  career,  as  an 
associate  of  Bonington,  he  had  been  a  notable  painter 
of  seaports  and  marine  subjects.  He  was  appointed 
royal  marine  painter  to  the  Algerian  expedition  of 
1830,  and  his  contribution  to  estampe  was  a  series  of 
lithographs  of  fisher  life  and  coast  scenes,  as  remark- 
able for  their  originality  in  composition  as  for  the 
perfection  of  their  technique.  Isabey  knew  all  the 
possibilities  of  lithography,  and  employed  point,  pen, 
and  stump  for  the  production  of  his  prints,  which,  in 

19 


Monsieur  Beraldi's  estimation,  rank  next  to  Boning- 
ton's  chefs-d'ceuvre. 

Associated  with  Delacroix  in  Guerin's  studio  was 
Paul  Huet,  whose  predilections  toward  the  study  of 
familiar  landscape,  river  and  coast  scenes,  led  to 
a  congenial  companionship  with  Bonington  and  Isa- 
bey.  The  delicacy  of  his  health  did  not  prevent  him 
from  sharing  in  the  revolt  of  the  younger  men  against 
academism.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  precursors  of 
the  new  landscape  school,  basing  his  paintings,  etch- 
ings, and  lithographs  on  careful  studies  from  nature. 
His  temperament  was  of  a  sensitive  make-up,  and  al- 
though his  works  united  graceful  composition  with 
truth  of  detail  in  their  portrayal  of  forest  interiors 
and  the  life  of  Norman  villages  and  seaports,  Huet 
never  seemed  to  meet  with  the  appreciation  accorded 
to  his  contemporaries.  Not  until  1911  did  he  receive 
the  supreme  consecration  of  a  posthumous  exhibition 
of  his  works  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux- Arts,  when  his 
merits  were  better  seen  and  understood.  Huet  was 
born  in  1804  at  Paris  and  died  there  in  1869. 

Charles  Jacque  (1813-1894)  was  more  active  and 
energetic  in  his  revival  of  the  etcher's  art.  Taking  his 
fire  from  the  altars  of  the  seventeenth-century  mas- 
ters of  Holland,  he  applied  it  so  effectively  in  his 
studies  of  French  rustic  and  provincial  life  as  to  bring 
etching  again  into  favor  as  an  autographic  method. 
Before  he  began  to  paint  he  had  practised  etching  al- 
most exclusively  for  some  ten  years,  beginning  in  the 
early  thirties,  and  achieved  renown  as  the  greatest 
modern  delineator  of  pigs,  poultry,  and  sheep.  His 
work  follows  in  logical  sequence  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1894,  and  no  other  etcher  of  rustic  and  ani- 

20 


HUET.   LE  CREPUSCULE. 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  5%e  X  £14  inches 


22 


raal  life  has  surpassed  him  in  the  quality  or  quantity 
of  his  plates.  While  Jacque  was  equally  successful  as 
a  painter,  the  very  notable  revival  of  etching  which 
took  place  in  the  nineteenth  century  was  largely  due 
to  his  initiative.  Among  his  several  hundred  plates 
may  be  counted  some  absolute  masterpieces.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  interesting  the  Barbizon  group,  chief  among 
whom  stands  Jean-Francois  Millet. 

The  events  of  Millet's  life,  from  his  birth  at 
Gruchy  in  Normandy  in  1814  till  his  death  at  Bar- 
bizon in  1875,  have  been  frequently  recounted.  He 
did  not  etch  many  plates  and  drew  still  fewer  lith- 
ographs, but  the  rustic  subjects  on  which  he  concen- 
trated the  force  of  his  powerful  mind  evince  such 
grandeur  in  their  composition  and  design,  combined 
with  a  masterly  simplicity  of  execution,  that  they  will 
ever  remain  as  chefs-d'oeuvre  among  the  prints  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

As  a  complement  to  the  sublime  creations  of  Millet, 
Corot  's  poetic  landscapes  offer  the  charm  of  their  per- 
suasive beauty.  Corot,  born  in  1796,  united  the  classic 
and  romantic  in  his  education,  but  remained  so  per- 
sonal in  his  views  that  his  art  retained  a  youthful 
freshness  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1875.  He  did 
not  commence  etching  till  he  was  fifty,  and  in  the  rare 
prints  he  has  left,  we  find  the  same  regard  for  grace- 
ful lines  and  eloquent  masses  of  tone  that  distinguishes 
his  paintings.  He  did  a  number  of  lithographs,  ex- 
quisite in  quality,  and  more  numerous  cliches-verres, 
principally  executed  at  the  suggestion  of  his  friend  Al- 
fred Robaut.  These  also  are  stamped  with  the  mark  of 
a  rare  personality,  often  revealing  in  their  frank  unaf- 
fected lines  the  intimate  side  of  Pere  Corot 's  character. 

23 


Charles-Francois  Daubigny  began  etching  in  1838. 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  and  continued  to 
practise  the  art  till  1877,  within  a  year  of  his  death  in 
1878.  Daubigny 's  long  practice  taught  him  all  the 
resources  of  etching,  and  this,  combined  with  his  ample 
knowledge  of  nature,  resulted  in  a  number  of  masterly 
plates,  unequaled  in  the  rustic  and  riverside  phases  of 
French  landscape  art.  Daubigny  had  studied  the 
masters  of  landscape  who  had  preceded  him,  but 
brought  to  his  own  works  the  rare  freshness  of  vision 
and  energy  of  execution  that  distinguish  him  among 
the  landscapists  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  etch- 
ings include  about  one  hundred  and  fourteen  plates. 

Theodore  Rousseau  (1812-1867)  and  Jules  Dupre 
(1811-1889),  prominent  as  they  were  in  the  painting 
of  landscape,  and  as  leaders  in  the  phalanx  o*  1830,  did 
but  few  original  etchings  or  lithographs.  Rousseau's 
contribution  consists  of  four  etchings,  one  lithograph, 
and  one  cliche-verre  similar  in  composition  to  the 
paintings  of  forest  interiors  and  logically  constructed 
landscapes  by  which  he  is  widely  known.  Jules  Dupre 
did  some  eight  lithographs  that  were  executed  early  in 
his  career,  several  of  them  as  reproductions,  and  others 
as  preparatory  studies  for  his  works  in  oil-colors.  The 
prints  of  both  these  men  are  prized  as  much  by  reason 
of  their  rarity,  as  for  the  masterly  qualities  that  dis- 
tinguish all  their  work. 

One  remarkable  landscapist,  Alexandre  Calame,  was 
born  in  Switzerland  and  lived  principally  at  Geneva. 
He  often  exhibited  and  received  recompenses  for  his 
works  at  the  Paris  Salon.  His  exquisitely  finished 
lithographs  are  of  scenes  in  his  native  land,  in  which 
mountains,  lakes,  and  wild  rivers  are  portrayed  under 

24 


f?     o 


-    .9 


26 


atmospheric  effects  that  vary  from  the  limpid  delicacy 
of  sunshine  to  the  sublime  shadows  of  the  storm. 
Calame  died  at  Mentone  in  1864,  and  is  one  of  those 
artists  whose  true  value  will  become  more  evident  with 
the  advance  of  time. 

As  a  pupil  of  Corot  and  Daubigny,  Adolphe  Ap- 
pian,  born  at  Lyons  in  1819,  might  be  considered  as 
attached  to  the  1830  group.  Some  of  his  etchings  are 
especially  faithful  in  their  study  of  tree  forms  or  open 
spaces  of  still  water,  and  others  are  decorative  repre- 
sentations of  southern  landscape  and  port  scenes.  Mr. 
Hamerton  has  praised  Appian's  work  most  highly  in 
his  "Etching  and  Etchers."  Careful  technique  and 
an  exotic  quality  due  to  sympathy  with  his  native 
Southland,  make  his  work  a  valuable  addition  to  nine- 
teenth-century etching. 

The  architectural  beauties  of  old  Paris  never  found 
a  more  devoted  lover  than  in  Charles  Meryon,  who  was 
the  son  of  an  English  doctor  of  the  same  name  and  a 
Parisian  ballet-dancer,  Narcisse  Chaspoux.  He  was 
born  in  1821.  His  great  art  stands  in  a  class  by  itself, 
uniting  intense  romanticism  and  poetry  of  effect  with 
a  most  minute  precision  of  execution.  He  had  spent 
seven  years  in  the  French  navy,  which  he  left  with  the 
grade  of  lieutenant,  to  devote  himself  to  art.  Though 
Victor  Hugo  qualified  his  work  as  "magnificent,"  and 
Baudelaire,  with  others,  tried  to  befriend  him,  he  died, 
insane,  after  suffering  all  the  pangs  of  poverty,  at 
Charenton,  in  1868.  His  work  merits  the  wider  study 
and  unqualified  appreciation  it  has  since  received, 
and,  although  marked  by  a  distinct  individuality, 
Meryon 's  place  is  among  the  Romantics  and  the  men 
of  1830. 

27 


Another  etcher  whose  skilful  needle  portrayed  the 
quaint  corners  of  the  French  capital,  somewhat  later, 
was  Maxime  Lalanne  (1827-1886).  In  such  a  plate 
as  the  Rue  dcs  Marmousets  and  in  river  and  port 
scenes  of  Paris  and  Bordeaux,  Lalanne  furnished  a 
standard  of  style,  by  his  frank  use  of  the  open  line, 
that  has  been  appreciated  by  modern  masters  of  the 
art.  Lalanne  wrote  a  book  on  etching,  and  another  on 
charcoal-drawing,  to  which  latter  art  he  devoted  much 
time  and  attention. 

One  odd  character,  thoroughly  representative  of  his 
epoch  but  less  known,  was  Adolphe  Hervier  (1821- 
1879).  He  had  spent  much  time  about  old  Norman 
towns  and  ports,  and  his  etchings  and  lithographs  of 
fishing-boats  and  curious  bits  of  architecture  peopled 
with  quaint  figures,  often  possess  a  rare  strength,  com- 
bined with  originality  of  composition  and  treatment. 
He  was  "discovered"  several  times  by  Theophile 
Gautier,  Champfleury,  and  Burty,  but  remained  a 
bohemian  of  Montmartre  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

A  number  of  others  might  be  mentioned,  including 
Achille  Deveria,  Marvy,  Veyrassat,  and  Meissonier, 
whose  art  grew  out  of  the  1830  movement,  while  the 
rise  of  the  distinguished  group  of  French  repro 
ductive  etchers  in  the  last  century  was  another 
indirect  result.  Bracquemond,  Seymour  Haden, 
Whistler  and  his  school  also  inherited  its  principles. 
Of  lithography  especially,  as  well  as  of  etching,  the 
period  has  left  us  many  precious  examples. 

Notwithstanding  their  independence  of  academic 
methods  and  a  generous  breadth  in  their  choice  of 
subjects,  the  men  of  1830  benefited  largely  by  the 
classic  and  conservative  traditions  out  of  which  they 

28 


HERVIER.    A  LA  PORTE  D'UNE  I-KKMK 
Sue  of  the  original  lithograph,  7%  X  5%  inches 


29 


HERVIER.      INTERIEUR  D'EGLISE 
Size  of  the  original  lithograph,  814  X  5%  inches 


30 


advanced  to  a  more  intimate  study  of  nature;  and 
from  a  well-balanced  union  of  the  ideal  with  the  real 
resulted  those  rare  qualities  that  assure  this  gifted 
group  a  permanent  and  honored  place  in  the  annals 
of  modern  art. 


31 


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